Thursday, September 13, 2012

New Era of Dominance

Why are Men More Dominant Than Women?

photo credit: Burns! via photo pin cc

Since we were born, we have grown up to believe that men are more dominant than women. It has been taught to us since we were children. It has been part of our culture and we have grown into knowing that men are the dominant sex. Can you remember listening to childhood bible stories of the first person on Earth Adam, a man, and Eve, a woman? Maybe it is religion that has caused the world to have tunnel vision. Not only has Christianity affected beliefs, but Islamic religion as well. It could be cultural, biological, and psychological differences that make men the more dominant sex. I believe times are changing and a new era is coming to light.
Lets not look at just western culture but lets look worldwide. The culture of a society is influenced by many different things. Religion is probably in the top three if not the highest influential factor to a culture. Muslim families are typically male dominant. Roughly two billion people, a third of the world’s population, practice the Muslim faith. Women are expected to obey their male husbands without question. If a woman were to ever disobey her husband, there would be horrible consequences. The power struggle of dominance in sex is not as lopsided in Western cultures and tends to favor women more so than Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures.Women hold more positions of power in western cultures compared to eastern. The men to women ratio is still heavily favored on the men side when it comes to holding these types of positions. Although culture is a major reason why men are typically more dominant than women it is not the only reason.
Biologically men are overall stronger than women. That is not to say that some women can kick a man’s ass, but that on average a man is stronger than a woman. Also men are physically taller than most women. Perhaps it is just the size and strength that tend to make men the more dominant sex. Hypothetically let's imagine two people that are highly pissed at each other and for whatever reason they can not talk out their differences and the only thing left to do is brawl. So then begins the pre-fight standoff tradition where one sizes up the other. The intimidating stare that each one gives the other is intense and neither are backing down. Until one notices that the other has been working out at Planet Fitness for the past year and is at least two inches taller and can bench a John Deere tractor. This seems convincing enough for him/her to back down. This scenario could have been compared with both women and men. The point is that size and strength are factors in dominance.
The third underlying factor of dominance is caused by psychological differences. A person’s psyche is affected by many different things and it begins as a young child. One could tie this in with the cultural aspect of religion as well but I would like to focus more on a person’s guardian. An individual raised in a household where everyone is very loud, they are all outspoken, and have been taught not to turn the other cheek. They tend to grow up to have more of a strong personality. A more dominant personality. They will have a more “it’s my way or the highway” attitude of handling situations and these are the type of people that later on in life “wear the pants in the house” so to speak. They are also more likely to get more job promotions over the individual who is less outspoken. Traumatizing events in a person’s life can also have the same effect. It can strengthen a person’s psyche. A person’s upbringing and traumatic events can also have the reverse effect as well.
Since the beginning of our species men have been the dominant sex in relationships; the workforce, the military, and in education institutes. Its their duty to be the provider for their family. Now times are changing tremendously. Ashley Lutz, a writer for Business Insider, states that, “Women are speeding past men in schools, at home and in the workplace.” Maybe it is time to set aside our animalistic instincts of strength and size dominates all type of mindframe, and actually use what is between our ears to make the right choices in our relationships and in our workplaces. A new era has begun.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that men may have more dominance due to actual physical size.

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